Our Ethos

“We are alive at the most decisive time in the history of humanity. Together, we can do the seemingly impossible. But it has to be us, and it has to be now.” Greta Thunberg (2022)

The Bruern Way

It is our aim to play our part in securing a safe future for life on Earth. We are on our own journey of discovery. By constantly challenging and innovating, we are working towards a healthy future for farmlands, nature and food production for generations to come.

So how does The Bruern Way help us on this journey?

Through our own farming methods, we are challenging conventional ways of farming and food production. We are forging the way ahead against the current agri-business system, through direct sales of food to our community and seed ownership, and through pioneering methods of farming that don’t fall into the well-trodden current system.

Growing nutritious food, increasing biodiversity and providing produce for our community are the key factors that drive us. 

There is a lot of risk involved in this way of farming. Our farming techniques have not been so common this side of the industrial revolution and we are continuously trying and testing different ways to combine and enhance the three tenants of our mission: healthy soil; healthy food; and healthy people in our community. 

 

 

Our Values

Every action we take on this farm is designed to enhance the four values we are driven by:

1. Biodiversity, from the soil up.

We are passionate about building back our natural habitats through planting trees and wildflowers, managing hedges, and creating a variety of habitats that help everything from the worms and insects in the soil, to sky larks and barn owls in the sky.

2. Healthy food

Getting nutrient dense food into the community is a key aim of what we do. From our no-dig market garden producing a variety of delicious vegetables, to our min-till system of growing heritage grains, we are constantly looking for ways to expand and deliver a diverse range of food for the community.

3. Community

Over the last thirty years, rural communities in the Cotswolds have declined precipitously. Cottages that once housed farmers are now multi million pound weekend homes. Entire villages have priced out and displaced multi-generational families. Many pubs, once an essential meeting place for the locals, have become exclusive culinary establishments catering for wealthy tourists.

By creating a café that serves good, local and affordable food, we hope to redress this slow decline of our rural community. We engage locals through farm tours, foraging walks, local market days and other events designed to connect people with the land and the food we grow. We welcome both visitors and locals onto the farm and want to share our experience of what it is actually like to run a real farm in this current climate.

4. Transparency

Provenance and traceability are increasingly important to consumers and they are for us, too. It is a point of pride for us that every grain of wheat and every bag of flour we sell has been grown and milled right here on our farm. Likewise our venison, lamb, pork and eggs are all from the estate, and we continue to increase the amount of field to fork food we serve in both the cafe and in the farm shop.